They’re Onto Something

First I heard the guys at the muffin shack next door talking about it.  Then I heard it mentioned on Good Morning America and I knew I needed to investigate.  It’s the “best paid job in the world” and where do I sign up?

Seriously, Tourism Queensland is recruiting a “caretaker” for Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef whose job duties include swimming, snorkeling and frolicking on the beach along with posting photos and video to a blog.  Promoting tourism with a first-person online diary – it’s not a unique idea. 

But perhaps the thing that makes it unique is that they’re paying the lucky job-winner $100,000 for just six months work and throwing in airfare and an oceanfront villa…and they’re promoting that fact.  According to the Jan. 15 article in the Los Angeles Times more than one million unique visitors logged onto the website promoting the gig between Monday, Jan. 12 and Thursday, Jan. 15.   That’s one million people who may have never heard of Hamilton Island that may now consider it for their next vacation.  Impressive.

In the LA Times article Anthony Hayes, Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Queensland said “The tourism industry is having a tough time at the moment.  So what we’re really trying to do is drum up as much interest and as much passion for the place as we can.”  Of course, but it’s not kicking off on July 1, 2009 when the blogging begins.  It already started.

Watch application videos on YouTube by searching “Island Reef Job.” They run the gamut.  This one seems like a cross between an application and an American Idol audition!